Many surgical procedures are complex procedures requiring numerous alignment jigs and intricate soft tissue procedures. Preparing and placing the alignment jigs and other preparation is often a significant part of the procedure. For instance, when performing a total knee replacement procedure (“TKR”), the prosthesis must be accurately implanted to ensure that the joint surfaces are properly aligned. If the alignment is inaccurate, the misalignment will lead to failure of the joint, requiring the complex task of replacing one or more portions of the knee prothesis.
To ensure that the prosthesis is accurately implanted, during a TKR procedure, the surgeon uses a variety of jigs to guide the cutting of the femur and the tibia. The jigs are complex devices that require significant time to install on the patient during the surgical procedure.
The advent of computer assisted surgery provides the promise of simplifying many of the complexities of surgical procedures. In some instances, the computer may be used to guide the surgeon during the process. Although computer assisted surgery holds promise, there are numerous aspects to be addressed to make a system commercially viable. For instance, in addition to improving the efficiency of the procedures, the quality of the resulting procedures should be addressed. Accordingly, there continues to exist numerous aspects of computer assisted surgery that require improvement to improve the efficiency and/or quality of the procedure. The end result will encourage medical professionals to migrate toward computer assisted surgical systems.